Lion Cub
by Stratagem
Summary: Short stories about Shiro and Allura having a daughter in the future. Lots of family fluffiness.
1. Robo-Arm

Disclaimer: I don't own Voltron!

A/N: If this is terrible, I'm sorry. I just love the idea of Shallura babies so much, so I created one. I'd draw her if I could, but I caaaan't. So here, have a fic instead.

* * *

Robo-Arm

"Pidge?"

"Yeah, kiddo?"

"Can you make me an arm like daddy's?"

"What the—" Pidge nearly lost the tool she was holding inside of the castle's innards. She looked up from working on the radial electron receptor core and stared at the little girl sitting beside her instead.

Ah, whoops, she should've been paying more attention to the five-year-old. Emi was doodling on her own arm with a bright blue marker, creating swirls and lines vaguely reminiscent of Shiro's cybernetic prosthetic when it was in battle mode. She traced down the inside of her arm and drew a dot on her pointer finger, the blue fading a little into her light brown skin.

Oh man, was that marker permanent? Where had she even gotten it? How long was that going to take to scrub off? Crap on a stick… This was why she wasn't supposed to babysit, she always got distracted.

Emi nodded toward her arm. "I want it to look like this."

"Aw come on, what're you doing?" Pidge swiped for the marker but the agile little kid pressed her bare feet against the metal floor and swiftly scooted herself just out of Pidge's reach. Show off. She didn't even bother looking up at Pidge. Instead, she admired her artwork, holding her hand up and smiling at it. "Hey, you're not an easel!"

"Yeah-huh," Emi said confidently and started drawing on her ankle. "Can I have a foot, too? Like, a robot foot? Then I'd have two robot things!" She tilted her head to the side and then picked up her foot to examine it. "It needs a laser gun."

"No way. And you don't need robot limbs, you little cyborg wannabe," Pidge said. She edged back from the service port, attempting stealth so she could steal the marker if Emi refused to give it back. "Can I have the marker?"

"Nuh-uh, I'm using it," she said, shaking her head, "You can have it when I'm done." Somehow part of her white streak of hair had gotten marker on it, so now she was sporting white, black, and blue hair. Well, that'd sure make Lance happy. She stood up and moved out of Pidge's reach again before kneeling down and scrawling on the outside of her heel, coloring over the glowing pink Altean birthmark.

"You're making a mess," Pidge said, but she turned her attention back to the receptor core. She could wash Emi off later anyways or get someone else to do it. Or, you know, just return her to Shiro and Allura like she was. Always an option.

" _You're_ making a mess," Emi countered. She walked over and sat down beside Pidge, setting the marker down next to her. "So?"

"So what?"

"I want a new arm," Emi said, "Please?"

Pidge pulled her head back out of the port and raised an eyebrow at the cute little gremlin. "Why do you want a robot arm anyways?" Not that it wasn't totally awesome. It was just a weird request.

"I wanna fight better," Emi said. She pointed her blue-streaked hand at the wall and opened it as if shooting off a blast of energy like her dad could. Shiro's current arm was an upgrade that had been created when his first prosthetic, the Galra one, had been destroyed in a battle. With the Altean-Olkari tech mix he currently had, he had more options. And it looked nicer. Aesthetics, you know, very important.

"You don't even need to fight," Pidge said. She smiled at Emi and reached over to poke her marker-covered hand. "At least not yet."

"So I don't need a robot arm unless I'm fighting?" Emi asked.

"Um, sure. Exactly. But no, not really…"

"Can I have one when I'm fighting, then?"

Pidge laughed. "You are so stubborn! If you end up fighting and needing a robot arm, for reasons, real reasons, then we'll talk about it." She widened her eyes at Emi, hoping that had gotten through to her. When the kid didn't say anything, Pidge went back to working on the core. For a while there was a peaceful, quiet working environment.

Then Emi tapped her on the shoulder. "So yes?"

Ahh, it was impossible to get anything done. Pidge pulled her head and shoulders back out of the service port and gave her little pseudo-niece a shaky smile. "Emi, do you know who would like the blue marker you have? Lance. Lance would just love to have that marker right now, so why don't you go give it to him?"

Emi's eyes lit up, though it sort of looked like she had an idea instead of her just being excited. "Huh…okay…"

The five-year-old took off, probably heading for the training room where Lance and Keith were sparring. Breathing a sigh of relief, Pidge turned back to her work. Maybe now she could get the core fixed. It was only keeping this entire wing of the ship from overheating and turning into a tropical sauna, after all.

She was almost finished when the communicator band on her wrist started going off. "I swear…" Pidge flicked her wrist, pulling up the little holo-screen. "What?" Lance's face was smushed into the view, and he looked slightly displeased. Slightly being an understatement.

"What the hell, Pidge?!" he asked, and the view screen ducked away. "What did you tell her?"

"Huh?"

"Emi's down here being an unholy terror—"

"Fight me, Blue!" came Emi's voice over the com, and there was a streak of black and white as something small and speedy knocked into Lance. He blocked her and then had to back up to avoid getting roundhouse kicked. Ooo, nice shot. Thanks to her parents, Emi had been learning self-defense since she could walk, so while Lance was obviously easily avoiding her, she was still a tiny force of ferocity and skill.

"She keeps demanding that we fight her so you'll make her a robot arm! What's all that about?!" Lance pulled the com up close to his face. "Did you promise her an arm!?"

"Not exactly?"

Lance glared at her and then the view flew around as he dodged Emi. "Look here, Pipsqueak, chill out—Keith, stop just standing there!"

"Nah, she wants to fight you first. You've been chosen. Congrats…"

"Help me!"

"I can fight both of you at once, Uncle Keith!"

"Wellll, I have to go, good luck with that," Pidge said, grinning into her com's camera.

"Pidge, no!" Lance's horrified face flickered out as she went back to work on the core. Eh, they'd survive.


	2. Royal Expectations

Disclaimer: I don't own VLD!

A/N: Future Shallura kid (Emi) is five in this one again. Also, she has five lion plushies. BECAUSE. Also, Nezumi is one of Shiro's nicknames for Emi. It means 'mouse' in Japanese.

* * *

 **Royal Expectations**

Shiro was used to things being tossed around the Castle. Food, tech, weapons, toys, people, it was perfectly normal to see stuff being hurled from one place to another at least once a day. However, it was somewhat rare to see one of his daughter's old-school paperback picture books come soaring at him fullspeed. He had to step slightly to right to avoid getting beaned in the forehead.

"Didn't like the ending?"

"Dad!" Emi appeared over the back of the couch, her bright blue eyes surprised. "I didn't know anyone was there."

"Ah, okay, so you didn't mean to almost take my head off. Good to know." He grinned at her before bending down and picking up the picture book. There was a princess and a dragon on the cover, along with a prince with the most ridiculous shoulder pads ever. Huh, he didn't recognize this one, must've been new. "Where'd this come from?"

"I got it from the library," she said, "Back on Earth." They had visited earlier that week, meaning that they had set down outside of D.C. for a few days to conduct diplomatic business and check on the galactic embassy. Which basically meant that everyone had gone to a few meetings then hung out at Matt's place, enjoyed New York, and had a nice vacation before taking off again. Coran and Emi had gone to the library at some point, but Shiro had only seen the book on lions that Emi demanded they read together.

"You know, you probably shouldn't be throwing library books around," Shiro said. He walked over and flopped down on the end of the couch. "Librarians get grouchy about things like that."

Emi must've been reading for a while. There was a pile of munchies on the table and a slew of paper books around her, plus her tablet on the end table. She was curled up in the blanket that Hunk's mom had made her, and two of her lion plushies, Rouge and Gelb, were sitting on the middle of the couch. Azul was squished against the pillow behind her head while she had Kuro in her lap. Verde was nowhere to be seen, but that meant it was probably buried under all the books.

"Sorry," she said, "It just made me mad."

"Why?" he asked.

"Reasons," she said, lifting her chin, her tone perfectly mimicking Lance's when he was in a recalcitrant mood.

Shiro reached over and swiped little plushie black Kuro from her then proceeded to tickle her with it. "I demand actual reasons, young lady," he teased as he bopped Kuro against her face and neck and sides. She giggled and pushed the lion away before pulling her blanket up over her head and turning herself into a blanket potato. He poked the Emi-potato with the lion and then scooped her up into his arms. "Hey. What's wrong with the book? I'm trying to have a literary conversation right now. Discuss with me."

Emi's black and white haired head popped out of the blanket, her ponytail messy. "Do all princesses have to marry princes?"

"Huh?" That question had completely come from left field, and it was so sincere that it caught him off guard. "No…?"

"But that's what this book says!" she said. She scrambled across his lap and leaned over to snatch the book off the low table where he had set it. Flipping through the book, she came to a page and held it up to his face. "See?" Okay, so there was a princess getting married to a prince. Emi pulled the book back, flipped to a new page, and splayed to out again. Similar picture. "And here too. And the other story."

"It's just a book," Shiro said. A rather old-fashioned one but still just a book. "And I'm not a prince, and I married your mother."

Emi gave him the most incredulous look a five-year-old Altean-Human child could possibly muster up.

"What? I'm not!"

"You look like one," she said, "And you act like one. And you are one. You even have a crown."

"That was a joke." Shiro rolled his eyes, remembering the gift that the other paladins had given him for his birthday last year. That papier-mâché nightmare still haunted him. "I'm not a prince, Emi."

"Are too," she said again, "But does that mean I don't have to be a princess?" she asked, frowning, "Cause I don't think I want to get kidnapped by a dragon and have to marry some weird prince guy 'cause he recused me." She scowled and grabbed Kuro then squished the lion's face. "I wanna do the rescuing."

"I have no doubt that you would," Shiro said. He reached over and gently touched Emi's chin so he could tilt her face toward his. "You don't have to marry anyone you don't want to, Nezumi-chan. Okay?"

"Not even for the good of the kingdom?" She sighed and hugged Kuro. "I guess if I have to…"

Oh, but she looked so serious and long-suffering right now, it was hard to not laugh. She was too much like him and Allura sometimes; she would pick the noble road every time. To hide the grin on his face, he hugged her to him.

"I want you to be happy, whether you decide to marry someone or not," he said. He leaned back and pressed his forehead to hers for a moment. "So no getting married if you're not completely and utterly happy with it. Got it?"

"Mhmm," she said. She leaned backwards, her hands on his shoulders. "Soooo, if you say you're not a prince, and I'm still a princess, does that mean you have to do what I say?" A mischievous light brightened her clever blue eyes.

"Nope, because the role of dad gives me extra authority."

Emi stood up on the couch cushions and put her hands on her hips. "I order you to get me ice cream, subject."

Shiro raised an eyebrow. "Emi…"

"And I want a Retradian cyber pony! And a pool filled with hot fudge. And a little sister! Your princess commands you."

"Emi, no."


	3. Voltron Junior

Disclaimer: I don't own Voltron.

A/N: ShiroxAllura kid is 6 in this one! And Hunk is the best person to bounce ideas off of.

* * *

 **Voltron Junior**

"What about intergalactic archaeologist with a side of dogsled driver?"

"Yeah! But Mum and Dad said I can't have a dog."

"Oh, right. I strongly disagreed with that decision."

"I know, I remember."

Hunk was laying on his back on the floor of one of the Castle's observation decks, his arms crossed behind his head. Nestled up to him, her back against his side, was Emi. Papers covered with her childish drawings and bits of Hunk's expert engineering art were scattered around the room, and there was a recycling bin full of crumpled up construction paper in the corner.

"I don't want to pick, there's too much to choose from," Emi said for the seventh thousand time. The kid seemed to really hate this project, mainly because she changed what she wanted to be every single day. Or every hour. She dragged her crayon across a paper, putting a massive mark through her current drawing.

"You can always change it later," Hunk said, "It's not as if you have to decide forever what you're going to be when you're six."

"That'd be really bad…"

"No kidding. I would've wound up being a firefighting comic book artist who played electric bass for the Dark Atom Curse. Wait, actually, you know, that wouldn't be that terrible."

Emi was working on an assignment for school: draw a picture of what you want to be when you grow up. Hunk reached over and picked up the paper she had been working on then squinted at her ruined drawing. "You want to be a duck riding a tank?"

The kid had a lot of talents but drawing wasn't one of them.

"It's a picture of a hoverbike!" Emi said, holding her hand out for the paper. "I could be a hoverbike designer."

"What's with the duck?"

"I could raise ducks, too."

"Why?"

She shrugged. "I like ducks, they're weird."

"Remind me to get you a rubber ducky one day." Hunk smiled and handed the paper back to her so she could draw on the back of it. "Maybe you could be a farmer? You could live on Earth or somewhere and grow crops and raise animals and everything."

Emi's dark eyebrows shot up on her forehead. "I don't think so. I killed that singing deyari plant Coran got me real quick, remember?"

"Oh yeah, that thing only lasted about a week. It was a nice funeral, though… So you're not a green thumb."

"I can too have a green thumb." A moment later Emi's hand appeared in his face, complete with a bright green thumb. She gave him a green thumb's up before letting her skin fade back into its normal shade of brown.

Hunk laughed and pushed her hand away. "That's not what I meant. Having a green thumb means you can keep plants alive without a lot of work."

Emi grinned. "Oh, yeeeep, that's not me."

"No kidding, plant murderer," Hunk said. He looked up at the observation window above them and out at the wide expanse of stars. It was easy to understand why she was having a tough time with the assignment, even besides her extreme lack of sketching skills. There were just too many jobs out there in the universe, and then you sometimes had to hold multiple jobs at one time. Like paladin-engineer-voiceofreason-chef… "You're good at dancing and singing. What if you were a performer?" He glanced over at her. "That whole shape-shifting thing would come in handy for that."

"Yeah, guess so." She started drawing again, her colored pencil trailing methodically over the paper. So detail-oriented. For a couple minutes, there was a companionable silence then Emi let out a growl, pushed the paper away, and leapt on Hunk.

"Oof!" Hunk blinked as Emi perched on his chest, sitting cross-legged, elbows on her knees and a frown on her face. "Problem?"

"I don't like lots of people looking at me," she said, "Or talking to me. Or any stuff like that, so I don't want to be a dancer or anything 'cause everyone stares at you."

Oh right, he had sort of forgotten about that. She just didn't seem like a shy kid, at least until you got her around people she didn't know. Allura always said she would grow out of it and embrace her Altean extrovert, super-social, diplomatic ancestral nature, but Hunk didn't think she would ever be as outgoing or as comfortable with crowds as Allura.

"Maybe you shouldn't take it literally," Hunk said.

"What do you mean?"

"Before we have a heart-to-heart, you're literally squashing the air out of my lungs…"

Emi jumped down, her leap almost knocking the air out of him, and Hunk sat up. He grabbed one of the many pieces of paper that were laying around and plucked a pencil from the pile. "C'mere." Taking hold of her leg, he slid her over to his side and handed her a pencil as well. "What're some things you want to be when you grow up?"

She tugged on her long fluffy ponytail and grimaced. "We've been talking about that for a decapheeb."

"No, I mean what do you want to _be_ like." He smiled over at her. "For instance, do you want to be a completely awful person who's selfish and ignorant and goes around insulting people?"

"No!" Emi shook her head emphatically. "But I don't think that's what my teacher meant. She meant jobs."

"Did she specifically say you had to draw about jobs?"

"I can't remember."

"Okay, then we're going to say she didn't and take some artistic liberties. All right, what do you want to be?"

The kid braced her hands against the floor and waved her bare feet back and forth as she thought. "I want to be nice. And smart. And brave?"

Hunk wrote those things down on the paper, starring each one. "I think you'll be resourceful."

"What's that?"

"It means you'll be really clever and figure out smart ways to fix your problems."

"Yeah, that, I want to be that!"

They listed a few more things, and then Emi started drawing pictures that may or may not have represented each word accurately. Hunk went back to stargazing and she started using him as a backrest again. Overhead, the stars spun slowly as the Castle rotated in space. They were in orbit around a small little planet that had requested some help with their polar ice caps melting. See, that ice-beam thing that Blue had sure came in handy.

Speaking of Blue… "What're you guys doing?" Lance stepped into the room, wearing sweatpants and a hoodie and two-day-old stubble on his face. There were bags under his eyes, and he looked exhausted, probably because he had been pulling ridiculously long days in an effort to temporarily fix the ice caps while the planet's inhabitants, along with a group of scientists from around the universe, tried to come up with a more permanent solution.

"Homework," Hunk said, earning a surprised-disgusted look from Lance.

"What, why?" He walked over and sat down across from Emi. "You're like two, how do you have homework?"

"I'm six," Emi said, "And my teacher wants us to be good students and think about stuff."

"And are you pondering the deep secrets of the universe?" Lance grinned and poked her in the shoulder. "What's the answer to life, the universe, and everything? Tell me, oh wise infant."

Emi stuck her tongue out at him. "Forty-two."

"Pidge told her," Hunk said when Lance just stared at her.

"Pidge knows everything," Emi said solemnly.

"That's just what she wants you to think," Lance protested.

Hunk pointed at the paper Emi was drawing on. "Emi's working on a drawing of what she wants to be when she grows up. But we decided to go in a different direction."

"Why is this even a question? You can just be a paladin when you grow up," Lance said. He spun her paper around, flipped it to the back, and began sketching a picture of Emi in a paladin's armor.

"But there's only five lions," she protested, reaching for the paper. He moved it to the left and then to right as she tried to grab for it. "I can't be a paladin."

"That's where you're wrong," Lance said, smirking playfully. Hunk could tell he was teasing the kid, but she didn't seem to pick up on it immediately. "Your dad is just shy of being labeled an old fart, so Black will need a new paladin soon. Once Black decides to send Shiro out to the retired paladin pasture, you can pilot the Black Lion! See, works out great." His tired eyes lit up with the creative energy that only appears when one is about to fall over from exhaustion, and he started on a new sketch, stealing another piece of paper. "Or, I got it, we can build a new Voltron! A smaller one, not as cool, but still good, and that's the one you can lead! We'll call it Voltron Junior. Instead of lions we can use robot house cats! It'll need new colors. Better colors! What do you think of being the Wild Blue Yonder Paladin, Pipsqueak?"

"Wild Blue Yonder...?" Hunk said, raising an eyebrow at Lance.

"I saw it on a Crayola crayon once, and you're just jealous that you didn't come up with Voltron Junior."

Emi tilted her head to the side. "Do I have to be blue?"

"Okay, fine, be the Black with Glitzy Gold Glitter Paladin. But no Strawberry!"

"Go to bed, Lance."


	4. Just Keep Swimming

Disclaimer: I don't own Voltron!

A/N: It started out fluffy and then turned dramatic? Anywho futureShallurakid Emi is 8 in this one.

* * *

 **Just Keep Swimming**

"Is everyone wearing sunscreen?"

Why did he even bother. No one heard Shiro because the instant they reached the beach sand and the ocean was fully visible, they were all gone.

"Last one in is a Quasillian sticky slug!" roared Lance as he sprinted for the waves.

He and Keith were in a footrace to get to the surf because being adulting was dumb while Pidge and Hunk followed behind at a slightly slower speed. Emi and Allura had shot after them, with Emi catching a piggyback ride from her mother.

"I'm wearing a perfect amount of sunscreen, Number One."

Okay, almost everyone had taken off. Coran was still beside him, wearing a weird 1920s-looking swimsuit and holding a cooler, a chair and a bag. The Altean was completely covered head-to-toe in a thick layer of homemade blue sunscreen, which he swore was better than anything Earth had to offer. All of the gear that the others had been carrying had been discarded in a heap on the dunes when the rest of his team and family abandoned all responsibility to jump into the ocean.

It had been a very long month, and everyone needed a break. Teyu, the planet they were on, had been dealing with a blockade by a neighboring planet, Desrol, and they had asked Allura to come and mediate a settlement between the two planets. Forces from Desrol had attacked Teyu during the negotiations, and eventually the paladins had had to use the lions to break up the blockade. It had been a tense month-long situation, one that required a lot of diplomacy and talking as well as fighting, but it seemed that a treaty had finally been agreed on.

With the two planets on stable political ground again, the Voltron team had decided to take some well-deserved time off. Shiro really just wanted to spend some quality time with his family since he felt like he had been neglecting them.

Down by the water, Emi and Allura had stopped and were looking back toward the dunes. At the same time, they cupped their hands around their mouths and yelled.

"Daddyyyy!"

"Takashiiii!"

"Better go down there," Coran said. He was already setting up their 'camp,' putting up the massive umbrella and spreading out a blanket. "I'll fix up everything here in a jiff."

"Thanks, Coran," Shiro said. He pulled off his shirt and headed down to the water. Halfway there, he picked up speed, aiming right for Allura.

"Shiro," Allura said warningly, holding up her hands. She took a couple steps back and then stubbornly held her ground when he didn't slow down. "Shiro, no, don't you dare!"

Oh, yes, he did too dare. Grabbing her around the middle, he hauled Allura into the air and put her over his shoulder, wading right into the water. She was laughing and trying to hold onto his arm, but hah, _he_ had worn sunscreen so he was slick and slippery.

"Think about what you're doing," Allura said, a playfully scolding tone to her voice, "Make wise choices."

"Sorry, but I'm not sorry," he said, smirking. When he was up to his waist, he pulled her down from his shoulder, stole a kiss from her laughing mouth, then launched her into the water. She resurfaced with a grin and started coming toward him, prompting him to get moving before she could get retribution.

He turned around, locking eyes on his daughter. "Your turn."

She shrieked and took off down the beach in anticipation, splashing through the very edge of the water. However, she didn't get very far.

"Gotcha!" Hunk exclaimed as he caught the spritely eight-year-old as she tried to get past him and bear-hugged her. She squirmed and wriggled and tried to escape, but it was useless. She was totally stuck. "Hey, Shiro, you looking for this?"

"Hunk, let me go!" she demanded.

"No way. You shall never escape!"

Shiro chuckled and walked out of the ocean, or at least he tried to. Something grabbed his foot and quickly yanked, causing him to lose his balance when a wave hit. He fell over and caught a wave with his face before coming back up to the surface.

Allura stood beside him, her hands on her hips, a challenge on her face. "I told you to make wise choices."

"I don't always think straight when it comes to you," he said, laying on the cheese.

Allura laughed. "Did you really say that?"

He grinned. "Did you like it?"

"Let's just say I like the idea of it."

Meanwhile Hunk had waded out into the water with Emi, and now he and Keith were taking turns tossing her into the waves. Pidge was floating on the boogieboard she had made yesterday and watching the game of who-can-toss-the-kid-the-farthest. Hunk was obviously winning. Lance bobbed out a little farther in the water, treading water and playing lifeguard in case a rip current snatched at Emi or Pidge or anyone else, really. They had been warned by the locals that the rip tide could be very nasty, though if they were careful, it should be fine.

"Higher, Uncle Keith!" Emi squealed.

"What was that? I couldn't hear you, it sounded like a lot of squeaking."

"Come oooon."

He responded by launching her straight up into the air, and she landed in a cannonball next to Pidge.

Shiro and Allura waded over to the others, taking their time, enjoying each other's company. When Emi saw them, she spun out of Keith's grasp and swam over to them. Shiro plucked her out of the water and rested her on his hip, and she looped her arms around his neck, resting against his shoulder.

"Hey, Dad."

"Hey, Nezumi-chan."

She lifted her head and grinned over at Allura. "Can you show me how to morph web-hands, Mum?"

"We can work on it when we get back to the beach," Allura said. She reached over and pushed a rogue strand of hair back away from Emi's face.

The paladins, Allura, and Emi played out in the waves until the sun and hunger drove them back to the shore and Camp Coran, as the red-headed Altean was calling it. He had gone all out with a tent, two umbrellas, a hammock stretched between two scrubby trees, and the cooler that was actually a mini-fridge. There were chairs and towels and blankets, and everyone descended on the sandwiches that Hunk had made for them that morning.

"A fan!" Pidge said before plopping down in front of the massive solar-powered fan. Her wild long brown hair flared out behind her as she closed her eyes and enjoyed the manufactured breeze.

"Everyone better reapply sunscreen before they go back out," Shiro said. He was underneath one of the umbrellas with Allura, sitting shoulder to shoulder with her. The team looked like they were finally relaxing after the stressful past weeks, which made him relieved.

"I'm taking a nap before I go back out," Lance said. He saluted the others and dropped into the hammock, leaving one leg out so he could gently rock it back and forth.

"That does sound rather appealing," Allura said, letting her head fall against Shiro's shoulder. Emi was already dosing behind them, curled up on a pile of beach towels.

Hunk and Pidge elected to go to the local pier and check out the fishing instead of sleeping, and they convinced Coran to go with them. Soon enough, the whole remaining crew was lulled to sleep by the heat and the steady crash of waves against the shore.

Shiro was deep into his nap when Black's thoughts burst into his dream, letting out a roar and a strong sense of danger linked with Emi's name. Shiro shot awake, as did Allura, and they both turned to where Emi had been sleeping.

She was gone.

Her footprints headed toward the ocean, but there was no sign of a black-and-white haired head in the water.

Allura took off for the water while Shiro scrambled to his feet and frantically looked around the beach. "Emi!" he shouted. He didn't see her, where was she— "Keith, Lance, wake up!" he yelled, not bothering to mask his panic.

"Wha—what's wrong?" Lance said, making the jump from asleep to awareness quicker than usual due to the fear in Shiro's voice. He rolled out of the hammock and landed on his feet, looking like he was ready for a fight. Keith was up and at Shiro's side a second later.

"Emi's missing. I can't— Help me. Do you see her anywhere?"

She wouldn't go in the water, would she? No, she wouldn't, she couldn't have done that, not when he and Allura and Lance and everyone had warned her again and again that she shouldn't swim by herself. Ever. She must have gone to find Hunk and Pidge and Coran and made the childish mistake of not telling anyone.

But Emi was headstrong. _Can you show me how to morph web-hands?_ And confident. If she had thought she could swim even against the current…

Keith started running down the beach, yelling Emi's name, while Lance raced toward the water and Allura, following Emi's footsteps. Shiro tried to crush the horrible, sick feeling in his chest, the one that was rending his heart, and started off in the opposite direction of Keith.

She was fine, she was all right, his girl was okay…

An image from Black exploded in his mind, a flashing glimpse of blue and green swirling and a feeling of being unable to escape. Trapped underwater. Black was using the connection she had made with Emi, which meant—

Shiro turned and bolted for the ocean, calling to Allura. She must have seen the same images, Black was connected to both of them. He would never forget the horrified look on Allura's face before she dove down into the waves, followed by Lance.

Crashing into the waves, Shiro fought the fear that was trying to cripple him and dove in the next wave, opening his eyes. Nothing, nothing, where was she— A need for air drove him to the surface, and he saw Keith rushing into the water.

Lance broke through the water farther out to sea, and Shiro's heart almost gave out. He had her, but she was limp, her head lolling as Lance swam back toward them. Allura cried out, a wordless sound that tore into Shiro as they both moved toward Lance.

The younger paladin's blue eyes were wild as he handed Emi off to him. "Shiro, Shiro, she's not breathing—"

Shiro cradled Emi to his chest and pressed his fingers to her neck as he hurried out of the water. A faint, fluttery beat brushed against his fingers.

"She's got a pulse," he told Allura in a rush as he laid their daughter down on the shore and started CPR.

Lance sat down in the surf and put his head in his hands, his eyes on the youngest member of their Voltron family.

"Please," Allura said, repeating the word over and over under her breath.

Keith dropped down next to them and shoved his hands back through his hair. "Come on, kiddo…"

Shiro tuned everything out and focused. After a couple rescue breaths, Emi coughed and gasped, spitting up saltwater as she started crying. Weak with relief, Shiro turned her to her side, patting her back. "It's okay, it's all right, calm down, get it out," he said, mostly for Emi's sake but also for himself and Allura.

When she finished vomiting up seawater, Emi was scooped up by Allura, and Shiro grabbed both to pull them close.

"Thank you, Lance," he said, glancing up from Allura and Emi.

Lance let out a giant sigh and dropped into the sand, giving them a thumbs up from the ground.

Keith reached over and patted him on the shoulder. "You did good."

Shiro pulled Allura and Emi as close as possible, his hand cupping the back of Emi's head as she sobbed. Maybe he would just stay like this forever, holding the two people who were most precious to him.

If he didn't, his daughter might make the rest of his hair white before she was ten.


	5. Well, Now You're Adopted

Disclaimer: I don't own VLD!

A/N: Emi is 4 in this one.

* * *

Well, Now You're Adopted

"Okay, but I don't get why Keith gets to be 'Uncle Keith' while the rest of us are just Lance, Pidge, and Hunk."

"It's more like Uncle Keef. And Lance is an upgrade from being called 'LaLa,' right?"

"Shut up, _Iggs_."

Lance and Pidge were having a very serious conversation while shooting each other's post-apocalyptic-dressed avatars on their latest video game console set-up.

The younger paladins were hanging out in the castle's upgraded and much more comfortable rec room, enjoying a break after a morning of training. Back when they had been younger, the rec room had just been a mostly empty room with a few uncomfortable couches. Now, after years of use and redecorating, it looked more like a living room or a game room from a house back on Earth. The Voltron crew found it much easier to relax there nowadays, and it made living in a castle-spaceship a little easier.

Hunk was laying on his stomach on the floor, his arms wrapped around a pillow as he watched Lance and Pidge duel it out onscreen. "I sort of miss being called Huh," he said, and his lower lip quivered a little before he gave a sniff. "Whenever she calls me Hunk it reminds me that she's growing up. Soon she'll be flying spaceships and fighting for justice and then she'll start stealing Black to sneak out and go on joyrides…"

"She's only four, Hunk," Keith said. He was sitting on the couch, watching the game and acting as a pillow for the four-year-old in question. Fast asleep, Emi was curled up next to him with her head on his leg, so there was absolutely no way he was moving.

"You watch," Hunk said, "You'll blink, and suddenly she'll be eighteen and _so tall_ and dating—"

Keith's eyebrows jerked together and his hand rested on Emi's back. "No."

"I already made her sign a contract to never date anyone ever," Lance said with a smirk, "So that's off limits."

Pidge rolled her eyes. "What'd she sign it in, crayon?"

"Well yeah…" Lance jabbed his thumb against one of the buttons on his controller and then made a face. "But anyways, we're off topic. I still don't get why Emi only calls Keith her uncle."

"She likes him best," Pidge said. She didn't really mean it, she just wanted to distract Lance. It worked.

"She does _not_ ," Lance shot back, looking affronted.

Too easy. Pidge grinned as Lance missed his shot at her avatar, which allowed her to launch a torpedo at his.

Lance made a noise somewhere between a growl and yelp and sent his avatar running off in the opposite direction. "I think Keith told her to call him that like a thousand times when we weren't paying attention, and now it's stuck."

Hunk snorted. "So, what you're saying is that Keith brainwashed the baby."

"I didn't," Keith said, making a face at Lance, "Coran's called all of us her uncles or aunt a few times. She probably picked it up from him."

"You're really just worried that she loves Keith more," Pidge said, smirking at the blue paladin, "Admit it."

"Nope, it just doesn't make sense, and that bothers me," Lance said.

His avatar stumbled over a trap, and the screen went bright red as Lance's avatar exploded into pixel gore. Lance sighed and frowned at victorious Pidge, who jerked both her pointer fingers at him in a mock of a pose he had made earlier.

"You owe me ice cream, loser."

The title music for the game started playing loudly over the speakers, and Emi popped up, her thick hair in her face like a mane. "I wanna play," she said sleepily, sitting up and rubbing her eyes.

Keith reached over and brushed her hair back from her face with one hand. "Where's your hair tie?" he asked, holding up her bare wrist where she was supposed to have a hair tie. Her hair was wild and thick, and she was currently in a stage where she would only let Allura or Lance do her hair. Poor Shiro, he wasn't even allowed to comb it.

Emi ignored him and scrambled down from the couch. She took one step away from the couch before turning around and holding out her hand to Keith, palm up. As if reading her mind, Keith unearthed her black lion plushie from the couch and dropped it in her hand.

Lion secured, she crawled over Hunk like she was mountain climbing, her eyes still heavy with sleep. She tottered over and sat down in Lance's lap as if he was a bean bag chair. Reaching down to her foot, she pulled off the hair tie that had apparently migrated to her ankle and offered it to him with one hand while reaching for the controller with the other hand.

"Well hello to you too, sleepyhead," he said, taking the hair tie but not relinquishing the controller. Instead, he handed that off to Hunk, who had been waiting his turn. Years of experience with his own little sister had turned Lance into an expert when it came to brushing hair, so he was gentle as he combed his fingers through Emi's hair. He pulled back the two white streaks from the front and started french-braiding them into the rest of her black hair.

"Hey Emi, why do you call Keith Uncle Keith?"

"He's my uncle," she said matter-of-factly.

"Yeah, but what about Hunk? And Pidge? And me?"

"Lance…" Hunk started, not wanting Lance to get his feelings hurt, even if Emi didn't mean to.

Emi tilted her head to the side. "Pidge isn't my uncle, she's my aunt."

Lance paused, Emi's hair halfway done. "Wait, so what are me and Hunk?"

"Uncles."

"But you don't call us that?" Lance said, now thoroughly confused by four-year-old logic.

Emi turned to look at him, nearly pulling her hair out of his hands. "Nooo, it's a lot of words." She leaned to the side and reached out toward the controller that Hunk was holding. "Can I play?"

"We'll play one of your games later, kiddo," Hunk said, giving the little girl a bright smile. She sighed and turned forward, her attention going back to the black lion toy. "Maybe she just calls him that, Lance."

"No, I have to know now," Lance said. He rapidly braided the rest of her hair then slid her out of his lap so she was sitting cross-legged in front of him. Grabbing her legs, he spun her around so she was facing him. He bent down, hands on his elbows, until they were eye to eye. "Okay, Emi, how come Keith is Uncle Keith but me and Hunk aren't Uncle Lance and Uncle Hunk? I'll give you a cookie if you can tell me."

Keith crossed his arms, frowning.

"'Cause he's daddy's little brother," she said, "So I gotsta call him uncle." Her eyebrows lifted as she stared back at Lance, acting as if he was the one with a major issue. "It's Earth rules."

The paladins all looked at Emi and then at Keith, who held up his hands. "I didn't tell her that."

"Why do you think Keith is your dad's brother?" Hunk asked, genuinely interested now. He didn't care what Emi called him but now he was curious.

Emi shrugged as if she didn't understand the question or as if it should have been obvious, and she looked at Lance expectantly. "Cookie?"

"Should we tell her…?" Keith said, looking uncertain.

Lance, Pidge, and Hunk answered in unison. "No!"

"Dude, you'd crush her little baby dreams," Hunk said, shaking his head vigorously, "Or mess up her entire view of reality."

"She wouldn't believe you, anyways," Pidge said.

"And there would definitely be some tears," Lance said.

There was no way he or the others would complain about Emi's reasoning, not when it gave Keith the family he deserved. Shiro had been like a brother to Keith, and Lance wasn't going to try to convince Emi that it wasn't true. Actually, he would fight anyone who tried to argue with the kid. She would find out eventually, anyways, so he wasn't going to ruin it for her now. Let her have a 'real' uncle, too.

Lance stood up and scooped Emi up off the ground. "C'mon, Squeaker, let's go raid the cookie jar!"

"Cookie jar!" Emi shrieked, pumping the fist holding her lion plushie into the air. With harmonizing war cries, they headed off for the kitchen.

"Uncle Keef, play with us," Pidge teased, holding out a third controller to the red paladin, who laughed and took it, even though he sucked at video games.

"It's not adorable when you say it."

Pidge and Hunk glanced at each other and then yelled. "Uncle Keeeeeef!"


	6. Two Front Teeth

A/N: I've been writing too much angst lately, so here's something funny to lift the mood. It's a two-parter! Emi is six in this one.

Two Front Teeth

Huh. Weeeeiiiird.

Emi bared her teeth in the bathroom mirror and pressed her forefinger against her bottom front tooth, pushing it backwards. Then forwards. And backwards. Wriggle, wriggle.

She closed her mouth and played with the tooth with her tongue, wiggling it back and forth. It had felt sort of weird yesterday, but today it was definitely loose. Maybe it had come loose when she smacked her face on the couch arm the other day while playing The-Floor-Is-Lava with Pidge and Lance. They had all made a pact not to tell her mum and dad because there would be yelling. So much yelling.

The-Floor-Is-Lava had been banned since long before Emi was born. Apparently Pidge had broken her arm while doing some kind of flying leap off the couch, so they weren't supposed to play it anymore. It was more fun since it was forbidden.

Emi had told her parents that she had run into a wall while playing with her hoverskates, so now she wasn't allowed to use those for a week, but no one got in trouble for the game. Success.

Still… Emi opened her mouth again and pushed against the tooth. Her dad was going to freak out. Mum was much better about dealing with injuries; she would slap a kiss and a bandaid on it, and then it was good to go. Dad, however, was more likely to fuss over her.

Maybe it would stop being all wiggly if she just stopped messing it. Sticking her tongue to the roof of her mouth, she headed out of the bathroom and into the hallway. She was supposed to be reading right now, so she went back to the little observatory room near the bridge.

When she reached the observatory, she flopped on the pallet she had created and opened _Stuart Little_. She liked reading this one to her mice buddies, but they were currently elsewhere. As she started to read, she absently flicked the loose tooth back and forth with her tongue, forgetting about her resolution to not mess with it anymore.

Halfway through a chapter, she reached over and picked up an apple they had gotten from Earth during their last visit. She bit down into it and immediately pulled it away with a yelp. Her eyes widened as she brought the apple right up to her face.

There, in the bite mark she had left behind, was her tooth.

"MUUUUUMMMM!"

* * *

"What do you mean, it came out in an apple?" Allura asked. She and Coran were standing in the bridge, and Coran was holding Emi's tooth up to the light.

Her _tooth_.

Allura knelt down in front of Emi. "Open your mouth again."

Emi made a face. "You saw it already!" She shut her mouth and covered it with both hands.

"Emi Shirogane of Altea…" Lance's mother had told her that using full names made most children obey, and Emi was no different. She sighed and opened her mouth again.

Allura sighed and pressed her fingers against her temples. There was a gaping hole in her daughter's mouth. "I don't understand how this happened."

"It's a bit of a mystery," Coran said, leaning down to peer at the hole as well. "Does it hurt?"

"No," Emi said, shaking her head, "But it does feel really, really, really, really, really, really—" Allura lifted her eyebrows and her nostrils flared, and Emi decided to stop before she pushed her luck. "—really weird."

"At least we still have the tooth," Coran said, "It's so tiny, look at it. Like a pearly Quindac scale."

Allura would rather not look at the tooth again. She would much prefer if it was back in her daughter's head, where it belonged.

"Can you put it back?" Emi said, bouncing from foot to foot. She darted over and tugged on Coran's shirt insistently. "Can you?"

"I think so," he said, and then grinned down at her, "Or we could replace it with something shiny!"

"Like a diamond?"

"Or balmera crystal. Or pure scaultrite."

"Oooo…"

"Please focus," Allura said, pressing her hands together. "I think we should ask Shiro."

"Nooo," Emi said. She crossed her arms over her chest and shook her head back and forth, making her black and white hair fly about. "He's gonna freak out. And he's busy, you shouldn't call him."

"He needs to know," Allura said, putting her hand on Emi's head. With her other hand, she brought up a holo viewscreen, contacting Shiro's wrist com unit. Emi slunk over to hide behind Coran, who stood with his hands on his hips, obligingly acting as her shield.

Shiro appeared a moment later, his white forelock plastered to his forehead with sweat. He and the other paladins were helping the people of the nearest planet locate some ancient artifact or other that was apparently in the middle of rainforest. "Hello, princess," he said, giving his wife a tired smile, then raising an eyebrow at her, "Something wrong? You look upset."

"Is that Allura?" Lance's voice exclaimed, and then he appeared in view. It looked like he was faring a little better in the weather than Shiro, but he was still dripping with sweat. "Get us out of this green purgatory!"

"Consider this to be a mission of good will," Allura said, and Shiro pushed Lance out of the viewscreen. "Shiro, I don't want to alarm you, but one of Emi's teeth fell out." _She_ was alarmed. She was extremely alarmed.

"Huh?" He looked surprised and then grinned. "Oh, so she lost her first tooth? Good for her!"

"Emi lost a tooth?" Hunk said off-screen. "Tooth Fairy time!"

"How much is an Altean tooth worth, do you think?" Lance asked.

Allura's cheek twitched. Why were they talking about fairies and how much teeth cost? Were they discussing replacement teeth? "Shiro, she has a hole in her mouth. I don't believe you're taking this seriously enough." Which sounded so odd, since normally he was quite serious.

Shiro immediately stopped smiling. "Allura-"

"It's not that bad," Emi said, appearing out from behind Coran, "What's a tooth fairy?"

"It's a fairy that takes teeth and leaves you money," Lance said, scrunching in beside Shiro again. He waved enthusiastically at Emi. "Hey, Squeaker!"

"Hi!" she said, waving back.

Beside her, Coran looked mildly horrified. "There's a tiny flying tooth bandit who exchanges teeth for monetary compensation?"

Shiro pushed Lance back out of the frame and seemed to take a few steps away from the others. Allura, Emi, and Coran could still hear the muffled celebration over lost teeth and teeth fairies in the background.

"I'm sorry," Shiro said, an apologetic half-smile on his face, "I should've told you, but I guess it just slipped my mind. I didn't know that Alteans don't lose their teeth. All human children start losing teeth when they're around five or six."

"I'm going to lose all my teeth?!" Emi shrieked, smacking her hands to her cheeks. "How will I eat? I'm going to starve, I don't like food goo!"

"No, no, no, sweetheart, it's all right," Shiro said quickly, "You're just growing new teeth, so when those new teeth come in, they push out the old ones. You'll lose all your baby teeth over the next few years, but you'll get new big adult ones."

Allura and Coran looked at each other, then at Emi, and then stared at Shiro.

"How do we stop that?" Allura said, reaching out and hugging Emi to her.

Coran put his hand to his chest. "That's the most horrific thing…"

"Can my new teeth be sharp?" Emi asked, her hands on her mum's arms, eyes bright with anticipation.

"What if her new teeth don't grow in?" Coran asked, waving his arms about, "What's wrong with her precious teeny teeth?!"

Allura frowned. "Why don't her little teeth just grow into bigger ones?" That's how Altean teeth worked, and that seemed so much more gentle and made more sense than losing all your teeth.

"Mum, it's okay, I don't mind as long as I get fangs."

Coran threw his hands in the air. "What if they never stop growing? What if her teeth grow out of her head? "

Now Emi's eyes grew huge. "Can that happen?! I don't want giant teeth! Daddy!"

* * *

Down on the planet, Shiro sighed and rubbed his forehead, trying to interrupt the three Alteans as they continued to have a meltdown over Emi's missing tooth.

Meanwhile, the team had completely stopped working in order to have a conversation about tooth fairies and how they were going to pull off Super Space Tooth Fairy Ninja, as Lance, Hunk, and Pidge were calling it.

Keith stood behind Shiro, listening in to the conversations but happy to stay out of both of them. This was definitely not his thing.

Shiro leaned against a tree and tried to talk his family down from their minor meltdown. "Allura, it's going to be all right, I'm sorry I didn't mention—Coran, don't make it worst—Emi, honey, please calm down—Coran! Stop, she's not going to have beaver teeth!"

Finally he just looked up at the sky as if asking it to grant him more patience.


	7. Open House

Disclaimer: I don't own Voltron!

A/N: The Castle of Lions is ginormous and has so many rooms, why not turn invite more people to live there? Except Emi is NOT ON BOARD with this idea. Sometimes it's hard having warrior-diplomat parents and a family of universe-savers. Also, this is the first time, I think, that I'm really writing from Emi's POV, so this should be, er, interesting? She's ten years old in this one. Wish me luck! It's a two-parter. ^_^

* * *

Open House

Emi knew something was wrong the moment she stepped into the rec room.

One, everyone else was already there. Normally at least Lance or Pidge showed up late to Family Meetings, but this time all of the adults were on time. Not a good. They only would've come on time if the conversation was deemed actually important.

Two, the only food on the table was a platter of her favorite cookies and a carafe of milk. Usually when they had official meetings, Hunk made all sorts of stuff. Not just her favorite.

Three, everyone got quiet and turned to stare at her when she came in.

Oh no.

Emi was holding her calico munchkin cat, Haru, and she squeezed him, burying her face in his short fur as her mind whirred through possibilities. They had definitely found out about that spacewalk she had taken without permission last week, and now she was going to be raked over the hot coals of family overprotectiveness and scolding. Maybe she could run? If she made it all the way to Black's hangar, there was a very small chance she could convince the lion to hide her somewhere.

In cases like this, she had found that it was better to just be quiet instead of opening her mouth and getting herself into more trouble by confessing too early. Her dad always got her to do that, and it was _so_ annoying.

So she schooled her face into a calm, innocent expression and looked up. What she saw was almost worse than a roomful of disapproving looks.

They were all smiling at her. Tensely.

"What's going on?" she said, looking at her parents, "Why are you guys being weird?"

"See, I told you," Lance said to Shiro, losing the smile and dropping onto the couch.

So maybe this wasn't about the spacewalk. She hugged Haru closer, then sat him on the ground once he started wriggling. He flicked his tail and waddled off to jump on the back of the couch, where Hunk reached up and started scratching the cat's chin.

"Come in, my girl," Coran said, gesturing her over. There was a spot right beside him, which happened to be right in front of the cookies and milk.

Emi slunk over to sit down cross-legged beside Coran. She leaned into his arm and narrowed her eyes at her extremely suspicious parental units. "No, seriously, what's going on."

"Nothing's wrong," her dad said quickly, and if possible, she narrowed her eyes even more. She hadn't asked if anything was wrong, which meant something was _definitely_ wrong.

Mum rested her hand on Dad's knee and smiled more gently, so it didn't look like her smile was about to bust her face in two. "We've all been talking about some possible changes that might occur around the Castle."

Emi kept her mouth shut, wondering where her mother was going with this.

"You see, sweetheart, part of the Castle's original purpose was to act as a diplomatic space station, as well as the base for Voltron," Mum explained, "It was intended to be a place where people from all over the universe could exchange information about their various societies and cultures in a neutral location."

Okay, yeah, she basically already knew that. It's sort of what they did anyways. They traveled the universe, cleared out remaining Galra threats, and built alliances. Nowadays, there weren't as many Galra resistance groups left, but they still tracked down ones that popped up.

So she continued to stay silent.

"When I was a girl, that was how the Castle was run," Mum said, "People from so many different planets lived here, and there were all sorts of discussions and lectures and lessons. We all learned to appreciate each other's cultures and societies, leading to a better understanding of the universe as a whole. It was great fun!"

Hold on just a moment there. Emi sat up straighter, looking around the room. Had no one else picked up on the whole 'lived here' part of that? As in, other people used to live in the Castle? Since she had been born, it had only been Emi and her family who lived in the Castle. Sure, some people stayed there on and off, like when Slav had spent a few months camping out, taking up one whole floor for himself. But they didn't stay _long_.

Her ears twitched, flicking a little in agitation.

Mum and Dad looked at each other, and Dad took her Mum's hand, which was another not-good sign. They were a united front in whatever they were about to say. Emi glanced up at Coran, and he patted her shoulder, encouraging but also not on her side.

"We're considering opening up the Castle to other families and people," her dad said, "It's more peaceful now, and it would help everyone to have a place to talk about universal and galactic matters."

Emi jerked her head back, bumping it against Coran's arm. What, nope, no way, no. This was their house, it wasn't an intergalactic hotel. It was her _home_.

"It'd be cool," Pidge said, "We could exchange all sorts of tech and improve the functionality of the spacenet from a central location."

"And there would be other kids your age around," Hunk said, nudging the plate of cookies toward her, "That'd be neat, right? Lots of new friends…"

She was not going to be won over by cookies. Or new friends. She didn't need new friends, she had some. Like a handful.

"It'll make organizing all the allied rebellion units easier if they had somewhere to send permanent liaisons," Keith said.

Emi shot him a betrayed look. He should've been on her side in all of this. It wasn't like he liked crowds, either.

"It won't be for long, Nezumi-chan," Dad said, "Only a year or so while they work on the space station."

Right, the massive space station that they were building out in the Resari Galaxy. It was supposed to be a place where people could gather from all over now that the Galra Empire was defeated, but Emi didn't think that meant they had to prepare for that by turning their spaceship-house into a dormitory. She liked new people, but only in small doses.

"And there would be places on the ship that would be restricted access, of course," Mum said, a worried look on her face as she watched Emi closely. "Some of the upper floors, the bridge, the hangars. We'll be the only ones allowed in those places."

"And this rec room," Lance said, "This is ours, nobody else's." He smiled at her, and she looked away. She didn't feel like smiling or agreeing or anything.

"Most of the people staying would be official diplomats and their families," Dad said, "So you'd already know some of them."

"You might find out you like it," Coran said. He looped an arm around her and gave her a half-hug, but she stayed rigid.

For a few awkward minutes, no one said anything, and Emi attempted to glare a hole into the floor. Too bad she couldn't morph laser eyes. If she had been younger, she would have definitely morphed some Galra fangs and maybe Galra ears. In honor of Keith, that had been her go-to angry morph when she was little. But she was ten, and anger took on a different nature now.

"Emi, please say something," her dad said.

She scooted off the couch and crossed her arms over her chest, flicking her eyes at him then her mother. "I don't want to. You already all made up your minds anyways."

"Well, I do suppose that's true, in a way, but we still want you to feel comfortable with it and talk about the situation." Her mum moved to the edge of the couch, reaching toward Emi. "We want your opinion as well."

No, they didn't, not really. They just wanted her to go along with it. But nope, Emi wasn't going to be comforted by a hug, and she wasn't going to give them the answer she wanted. She pretended that her mum wasn't trying to hug her and took a step back. It wasn't fair, being the youngest and not having a real say. Frustration bubbled up within her and came out of her mouth in the form of hot, furious words.

"I hate it. I hate the whole idea, and if you let other people live here, I'm going to go live somewhere else. Somewhere _really_ far away."

Her dad frowned. "Emi…"

"I mean it! Far far away!" She clenched her fists and started for the door, then turned around and grabbed the plate of cookies from the table. With a final scowl, she marched out of the room, Haru following behind her.

As the doors closed behind her, she heard Lance give a tired laugh. "Wellll, that went great."


	8. Open House Pt 2

Disclaimer: I don't own Voltron!

A/N: Sooo I do believe that Coran would be the most awesome grandpa ever…

* * *

 **Part Two**

The cookies were good. Really good. But Emi wished she had taken the carafe of milk too because she was getting pretty thirsty and there wasn't anything to drink in Black's hangar bay. In Green's hangar, Pidge had an entire lab set up in a corner and there was a mini-fridge. Too bad that whole set-up was in another tower of the Castle.

Emi nibbled on a cookie as she sat on the bridge of Black's nose. The lion had bent down and let her climb up when she had stormed into the hangar, prickly with aggravation. For a while, she had flopped across Black's head and calmed down, letting the cool metal leech away her anger. Once she was less likely to kick something, she had slid back down to Black's nose and started eating cookies.

Also, she had been ranting to the lion on and off since she had arrived.

"What if we have to move rooms? My room's all decorated, I don't wanna take everything down and move it." The likelihood of that happening was slim, especially since her dad had said it was temporary and her mom had been very clear that parts of the ship would be off limits, but still. What if? "Can I move into your hangar if they try to move my room? I won't take up much space."

Black sent back a fuzzy feeling of amusement, and Emi tapped against the lion's nose. "It's not funny, I mean it…"

The doors to the hangar bay whooshed open. Emi flattened herself against Black's nose, knowing that it was her parents coming to convince her that they were right and she was wrong. She didn't feel like arguing with them, now or ever. Maybe if she stayed super quiet, they wouldn't find her. Black might give her away, though, if dad asked her to.

"Hello there, Black Lion! Haven't seen a darling little creature, about this tall, rather grouchy right now? She stole all the cookies and didn't even leave a crumb for this hungry dashing man."

Not her parents. Emi slid over and peeked over at Coran. He was wandering around the hangar bay, his hands on his hips as he peered around the corners of the massive room. She took a bite of her cookie, one arm draped over the edge of Black's bright red nose. While hiding from her parents was one thing, hiding from Coran was completely different, especially if he just wanted cookies. That could be a trap, though. He probably wanted to talk about the whole castle-as-hotel thing. He seemed like the idea and would want her to like it too.

Well, that was too bad because she was never, ever, **ever** going to like it.

"Ah, there she is."

Emi glanced down to see Coran standing underneath her, shielding his eyes as he peered up at her. She blinked and slowly slid back, pulling her arm up onto Black's nose. Rolling over onto her back, she pretended that she hadn't seen Coran and he hadn't seen her. It made her feel a little bad, but she crushed that feeling by picking up a cookie and nudging it over the side of the lion. There.

Now he had a cookie.

"Are you throwing food at me now?"

Emi responded by nudging another cookie over the edge. Go on, Coran.

"Jokes on you, my dear, I'm just going to stand here while you rain down delicious delectables until you're out."

Sighing, she peeked over the edge again, her braid trailing over her shoulder and into the open space. Coran was still there, munching on the second cookie. Apparently he hadn't caught the first one, since there was a smashed pile of crumbles on the floor beside him.

"I don't want to talk about it," Emi said petulantly.

"No one said anything about talking, did they?" Coran said, his mouth full of cookie. He went back over to the door then lifted up a carafe full of milk, a couple mugs hanging from his pinky finger. "I just thought you might want this."

A moment later, Black lowered her head to the ground and Emi reached a hand out. "Thank you."

Coran grinned as he gave her the carafe and then stepped on top of Black's head at well. He sat down beside Emi and patted the lion as she raised back up into a sitting position. "Thanks, milady." He poured milk into the two mugs he had brought and sipped at his own while Emi drained half of her own mug.

"It's really sweet," she said, glancing at the milk. Now that she was paying attention, it did have a faintly purple tinge to it.

"It's hekronian milk from the moons of Astoria," Coran said, "We've had it before, I believe."

Emi honestly couldn't remember, but then again, she had tasted food from dozens of planets and moons during her short ten years of life. It was quite possible she had had this before. She slowed down to enjoy the sweet cream-like flavor, her blue eyes flicking toward Coran.

It seemed like he wasn't going to bring up the meeting. Which was weird because she just assumed he'd want to talk about it.

"I'm not going to change my mind."

"All right."

Emi watched Coran closely, but he simply snacked on his own cookie. "You know, it would be a nice view up here if there was an observation window. It wouldn't be that hard to install one."

"Yeah…" Fiddling with another cookie, she broke off little bits of it and floated them in her milk. She flicked a piece of cookie off of Black's hull. "I don't want other people to live here. I like it just being us."

"I know, darling, you made your point quite clear," Coran said, giving her a gentle smile even as her face grew hot with embarrassment. Maybe that hadn't been the best way to tell them all she didn't like the idea. "But there are so many unused places in this castle, it'd be grand to have people visit."

"They're not visiting, they're going to live here," Emi said miserably. She sighed and laid down on the bridge of Black's nose, resting her chin on her folded arms.

Coran leaned back, resting his weight on his hands and crossing his legs at the ankle. "Yes, but not for long, so that's quite a lot like visiting." He looked over at her, violet eyes meeting blue. "Emi…don't you get lonely sometimes?"

Emi shook her head. "Nope, never."

"Truly?" Coran gave a low whistle and shook his head. "Because I think that might be at least a part of the reason why we all think it's a magnificent idea."

She made a face. "I'm _not_ lonely. I've got you and Mum and Dad and everyone. And the lions. And my friends from school."

"You only regularly see your schoolmates in the holoroom."

"Yeah, but I still see them." Emi snagged another cookie and shoved it in her mouth even though she didn't really want to eat another cookie. She also wanted a reason to not talk about her school friends and how she wished she could go actually see them in person more often. She _wasn't_ lonely. She played with all sorts of other kids on practically every planet they visited, and she had friends back on Earth.

"Many of the diplomats would have children, and quite a few might be around your age," Coran said, "You need to be around other children, my little juniberry blossom."

"But I'm okay," Emi said, shaking her head, "I like everything the way it is."

"And how do you know for sure that you won't enjoy something new?"

"That's _a lot_ of new," she protested, "It's not like we're just letting one more person live here. You all made it sound like a loooot of people."

"Well, it would be quite a few," Coran said, reaching up and tugging at his moustache, "But that just gives everyone more people to talk to. More interaction and exchanging ideas!"

Emi sighed and dropped her forehead onto her arms. "I'm tired of sharing."

"Mmm?" She felt Coran's hand on the back of her head, giving her ponytail a tug. "I can't hear you."

She forced herself to sit up. "I don't…" She played with the edge of her sock, wondering exactly how she wanted to word how she felt. "I always have to share everyone. I don't mind, but I like that I don't have to share as much when we're on the Castle."

She had gotten used to sharing her family when she was little. People needed her parents, her aunt and uncles, her grandpa. They needed them for meetings and battles and negotiations and galactic policy discussions. They needed them to save the universe and protect it and keep people safe. She had been attending diplomatic talks with her mother since her birth, and she had always known her father was a warrior who would sacrifice himself for others. She lived on a spaceship dedicated to keeping the universe out of the hands of a dictatorship and watched time after time as her family launched into space to save this or that galaxy.

Was it that bad, not wanting people to invade her home, too?

"Ah, I think I understand." Coran looped an arm around her, and she leaned against his side. He rubbed her arm and planted a kiss on the top of her head. "If it helps, by inviting others on board, we won't have to visit as many planets for peace talks. More of that will take place on board."

"I guess…" Emi closed her eyes for a moment, trying to envision the ship with other people living in it. It just seemed crowded and loud in her mind.

"Would you really run away if we invited people here?"

"Mhmm."

"Now I do find that hard to believe, though perhaps if you stole Black and took off…"

Emi gave a sad, short laugh and shook her head.

"Darling, if you wouldn't be losing anyone," he said, hugging her, "You'll be gaining people. New friends, new mentors. You're not losing anything except perhaps a few floors of the Castle that we don't use anyways." He reached over and tweaked her nose. "And I'll make sure no one bothers you too much."

She could see her point, sort of, but she still didn't feel like agreeing with him. Still, she was glad he had come to talk to her. "I guess it could be okay. Maybe."

"That's a start!"

"If someone makes me mad, can we let Black eat them?"

"Err, let's not make any quick decisions."

A humming noise came from Black. It almost sounded like a laugh.


	9. Double Dose of Sacrifice Pt 1

Disclaimer: I don't own Voltron!

A/N: I wanted to play with the idea of how the ship can wormhole and the fact that the entire Shallura family is a bunch of self-sacrificing sweethearts. Emi can't help it, she got it honest. She's nine here! And here's the whole Shallura family being self-sacrificial.

* * *

Double Dose of Sacrifice

"There's too many of them!"

"This isn't working, we need to fall back."

"Allura!"

In her dad's flight chair on the bridge, her legs drawn up to her chest, Emi watched the monitors and screens with wide, scared eyes. That had been her dad's voice, yelling her mum's name. Allura had gone out using one of the small, sleek fighter ships, leaving the ship in Coran's control while she tried to distract the enemy from the lions' position. She had taken out a dozen ships before they pinned her down, catching her in crossfire.

Coran's hands sped across the castle's controls, trying to defend against the onslaught of enemy fighters. The Karis Initiative had ambushed them while the paladins were investigating a distress call at an abandoned space station near the rings of W'kal. With Keith still in a healing pod from an encounter with the Initiative last week and Red currently in repair mode, the other paladins were unable to form Voltron and the Initiative had shown up in full force.

"What happened?" Coran demanded, opening a direct link to Shiro's com.

"She was flanked, one of her engines is out. I've got her ship, but she's not answering," he said, worry coloring his voice. "I think she's unconscious."

"There's another squad coming around the moon," Pidge yelled.

A screen popped up in front of Coran and Emi, showing the squad of oval-shaped ships as they barreled toward the lions.

"Everyone, back to the castle!"

"No way, we've got this-"

"Now, Lance!"

"I hate retreating…"

Emi wanted to cover her ears and hide. She was supposed to be in an escape pod anyways. That was the rule, though she had stopped following it strictly a couple years ago. It was agony waiting alone in an escape pod and not knowing what was going on. It was frightening, but she preferred staying on the bridge.

"We need to wormhole out of here," Hunk said over the com. His face popped up on the screens, sweat-streaked and worried. "Because, not to freak out anyone or anything, but there's another squad incoming."

It appeared on the monitors, whatever cloaking devices they had been using falling away. There was a battle class ship with them, surging behind the others, cannons glowing at the ready.

"Coran, what do we do?" Emi asked, jumping out her the seat and running over to him, her bare feet slapping against the floor. "What if mum can't jump the ship?"

"We'll, well—you know—" He turned away from her, tapping against his control panel. "Shiro, have you docked yet? How's Allura?"

"We're in, and but I can't get her ship open. The cockpit is stuck. Is Emi with you?"

"Yes, actually."

"Is Mum okay? Why isn't she talking?"

"Emi, it's going to be all right."

She wanted to hug someone, but Coran was incredibly busy and he was the only one there. Instead, she clenched the edge of the control panel. "You didn't say if she was okay!"

"Don't we have enough back-up Allura energy to wormhole?" Lance cut in over Emi's panic.

"Not this time, no," Coran said. He turned from one panel to another, whipping back and forth between them. "The residual energy supply is currently depleted."

"I'll go back out and keep them busy while you get out of here, Coran," Shiro said, "Hunk, I need you to get Allura out of her ship. Pidge, go help Coran with Castle defenses. Lance…"

"I'll go with you, Shiro," said the blue paladin, sounding serious.

Emi felt terror well up inside her. Her mum wasn't okay. They needed to leave, but they couldn't because her mum wasn't okay, and if they couldn't leave, her dad and Lance were going to go face too many ships. They just needed a wormhole, if they had a wormhole everyone could escape.

She knew how to do it. Her mom had explained it once. Sort of.

" _You connect with the ship. It's as if you temporarily become a part of it, and you mustn't lose yourself. I'll show you how when you're older,_ camya _. You have to be careful…"_

She was older now, but maybe she would have to learn by doing and without guidance. She desperately wanted her mum, but she knew she had to be brave now. Her family needed her.

"I can do it," Emi said quietly, mostly to herself. Before Coran could register what she had said, she darted over to her mother's control area. The two control posts were a little shorter than she was. She placed her hands on the two posts and tried to connect with the ship. Nothing. "Come on, come on, I can do this. Please, castle!"

" _Patience yields focus_."

She needed focus but patience was so hard to find right now… Taking a deep breath, she tried to focus first, hoping that patience followed. Suddenly something snapped together in her mind. She could feel the ship around her, and it knew what to do. It just needed to guide her.

By his control station, Coran noticed the hangar bays lock down just as the black and blue lions started to go back out into the field. Shiro and Lance both had to stop abruptly, pulling back. In front of the Castle, a wormhole whirled into tentative existence, crackling and shaky.

"Coran, what's going on?" Shiro asked.

"Yeah, I'm shut in," Lance added, "We need to get back out there."

"I don't know how, but there's a wormhole," Coran said, staring down at the control panel. Had there actually been a reserve trace of Allura's power? Unless— Fear snatched at him, and he turned to where Emi had been standing at his elbow. She was gone, she was… Standing with her hands on the control posts, eyes unfocused. No, no, she wasn't trained, she didn't know what she was doing. But the wormhole was opened with its coordinates near Earth's moon.

"Let's get out of here!" Hunk shouted.

"How?" demanded Shiro, "How is there a wormhole?"

Coran rapidly started the jump sequence, sending the Castle into the wormhole and pointedly not answering Shiro. He must have guessed what had happened. As the Castle dove into the wormhole, it closed up behind them, cutting them off from the enemy.

His heart pounding, Coran raced over to Allura's control posts, wondering how to stop the connection between the ship and Emi without it damaging her. This child was practically his granddaughter, and if he didn't do something, the ship could potentially consume her mind.

"My sweet girl, you have to let go," he said, reaching over and putting his hands over hers on the control posts. He wanted to pry her away, but she had to let go on her own.

"Coran!" This time it was Allura's voice, and her face appeared on one of the view screens. Blood trickled down her forehead, and Shiro was partially holding her up, but she was awake. Relief at seeing her warred with his concern for his granddaughter. "Where's Emi?" She knew that her daughter would be the only one who could use the wormhole system besides her.

"We need you up here, Allura," he said shakily, "As soon as possible."

If anyone could call Emi back, it would be Allura.

* * *

 _Camya - Altean for heart (made it up myself!)_


	10. With Stars in Your Eyes

Disclaimer: I don't own Voltron!

A/N: I'm still reeling from Season 3. I have like three other fics in this series that need updates, but yeah, have some father-daughter bonding.

* * *

 **With Stars in Your Eyes**

"Is this it?"

"We're almost there." Shiro looked over his shoulder at the five-year-old trailing behind him. "Want me to carry you?"

"Nope, I wanna walk," she said, shaking her head at him, which made her hood fall back. It was an early autumn evening on Wyfel, and Allura had insisted that they both wear jackets. Emi reached up and readjusted her hood, making sure the lion ears were poking up.

Lance had bought her that jacket for her birthday, and she absolutely adored it, especially because it was purple. Sometimes she wore it around the castle and pretended to be a lion. Which, actually, had once ended in a major time out when she morphed claws and accidentally scratched up Keith when she pounced on him.

"Let me know if you get tired," he said.

"'Kay."

Overhead, twilight was setting in, the sky turning dark grey and green as it deepened into black. The castle had been orbiting Wyfel for about a week now, and Shiro had been promising to take Emi out stargazing since they arrived. The two of them went out and looked at the stars at least once whenever they were near a planet, it was a tradition that he had started back when she was just a baby. In his backpack, he had everything they would need for an evening outside, including snacks that Hunk had made for them.

A small hand slipped into his right one, and he gently squeezed Emi's fingers. Sometimes it was hard to believe that five years had gone by so quickly, but his tiny little baby had grown into a bright-eyed, clever kid. Time was going by way too fast.

"Emi, you have to stop growing," he said, "You're getting too big."

She giggled. "I'm still little, Daddy."

"Really? You seem gigantic to me," he teased.

"If I'm big now, can I fly Black?" she asked, skipping forward to step onto a decent sized rock. "I'd be really good."

"You'd be the best black paladin in the history of Voltron, but how about we wait a few more years?" He grinned at her. "At least until you're simply enormous instead of just gigantic."

Emi jumped down from the rock. "Daaaad…"

He raised his arm and she automatically wrapped both hands around his palm so that she was lifted into the air. Kicking her legs back and forth, Emi laughed as she swung. "Once you're too big for me to do this, then we'll talk about you piloting Black if she lets you."

"You promise?" she said, dangling from his hand.

He lowered her back to the ground. "How about we just say it's a very strong possibility?"

"Does that mean no?"

"It means I maybe promise."

Emi jumped at him and grabbed the tail of his shirt, giving it a light tug. "That means no!"

"Not really…"

They continued their argument as Shiro led Emi up the hill, ducking around the massive cauliflower-shaped bushes and going through the holes formed by the tangled roots of the towering inisin trees. Wyfel was home to the Ethusi, who were a tall, broad people with four arms and four legs, almost like the centaurs of Earth legends. Everything on Wyfel seemed designed to dwarf humans, so much so that even Shiro and Hunk felt on the small side.

One of the trees had fallen onto the path, probably knocked over by a storm that had gone through the area a couple days ago. The trunk on its side was about two feet taller than Shiro, which meant it looked like a wall to Emi.

"No one mentioned this," Shiro said as they walked up to the trunk. Of course, to the Ethusi this wouldn't have seemed like a big obstacle. They could just jump over it.

"What're we gonna do?" Emi asked, putting her hands on the fallen tree before Shiro could stop her. The blue bark left indigo marks on her fingers and then her pants legs as she tried to brush it off. She held her hands up to Shiro, her blue eyes wide. "It won't come off."

"Well, Mouse, I told you not to touch the trees before we left," he said, smiling a little. While it wasn't poisonous, the dust was incredibly good at staying on whatever it touched. It was how these trees pollinated, according to the Ethusi. Dropping to one knee, he brushed at her pants, trying to get the bark dust off, but of course he didn't have any luck. His hands came away slightly indigo as well. When it looked like she was about to pout, he chucked her gently under the chin. "Don't look so blue, we'll just wash off when we go home."

Emi blinked and then gave him a side eye that was rather excellent for a five-year-old. "I have to be blue, it won't come off."

"I know, I'm teasing you," he said. When she was older she would really get his bad jokes, and that would be an awesome day. "And you're about to get a lot bluer, by the way."

"Why?"

"Because we're going up and over. Time to get in touch with your inner squirrel, kiddo." He picked up and set her on his shoulders, turning toward the tree trunk. "Up you go." Shiro tapped on the soles of her boots, indicating that she need to climb up onto the trunk.

Emi wrapped her arms around his head, covering his eyes. "No, we'll get really super blue!"

Shiro laughed and plucked at her arms. "It'll wash off, don't be so fussy."

"But it's my favorite jacket…"

Gently, Shiro pulled one of her arms away, breaking her bear-hug around his head. "You can take it off and I'll put it in the backpack."

"It'll get dirty when I put it back on."

"You can wear my jacket." He didn't care if it got messy or not.

Emi considered the offer, leaning against the back of his neck, one arm still around the top of his head. "You'll get cold."

"Then I'll just hug you like a teddy bear. How's that?" Reaching up, he tickled her side, getting a giggle out of her. "No more arguments? Got anything else to say?"

"Nooo," she said, a smile in her voice.

After pulling off her jacket and handing it to him, she nimbly crawled up to stand on Shiro's shoulders and then climbed onto the tree trunk. Carefully, he gave her a boost, spotting her the entire time. Emi had great balance for a five-year-old, but she was still a little kid. Falling was a possibility. The dust from the bark quickly got all over her, and she was covered with blue by the time she perched on the top of the tree.

"Don't move," Shiro said. He waited until he got an obedient nod from her before climbing up the trunk himself, finding grooves in bark. Pulling himself onto the top, he stopped beside Emi for a moment. When he turned to look at her, her hands darted out and patted his face.

He blinked, realizing he had two Emi-sized handprints on his cheeks as his daughter grinned up at him.

"Now you're blue, too."

"So that's how it is?" Shiro grabbed her as she started to scoot backwards. "Oh, no, kiddo, you're not getting away that easy." He pulled her to his side, holding her close as he dashed his hand across the bark and streaked her face with more blue dust.

Emi shrieked and flailed, laughing as she lazily tried to get away. Now that her precious jacket was safe, she didn't seem as worried about getting dirty.

When they finally got down on the other side of the trunk, Shiro and Emi were both dotted and striped with blue. Shiro fluffed Emi's hair as he carried her with one arm, creating a poofy cloud of dust. "Your mom is going to be so happy with us."

"Lance will like it," she said, clapping her hands together and adding to the cloud. She ruffled his bangs, and he had to blink and turn his head to the side as more dust drifted around.

"Is my hair blue?"

"The white part? Yep."

"Yours, too."

"Really?" Emi looked up at her hair, almost going cross-eyed in the process. Was it possible to overestimate your own kid's cuteness? Because Emi was definitely the most adorable kid in the entire universe, and Shiro would definitely argue with anyone who tried to say otherwise. Just like he would do the same if anyone attempted to say Allura wasn't honestly the most exceptional person that ever lived.

It was getting dark, so Shiro set Emi down and fished flashlights out of the backpack, one for both of them. The stars were already coming out, twinkling into sight overhead.

Emi caught his hand and charged forward, the beam from her flashlight bouncing around the path. "Let's go, hurry!"

"The stars aren't going anywhere, sweetheart," he said, but he let her tug him along as if she knew where they were heading. Occasionally he would have to gently pull her back toward the path, but she was doing a good job of leading them the right way.

Once they reached the top of the hill, the forest fell away and both of them froze, staring up with identical awestruck expressions. Above them, a galaxy of stars stretched across the cloudless sky in pristine beauty.

No matter how old he got or how many trials he went through, nothing could take away Shiro's fascination with the stars. People could hurt him, try to destroy him or crush his spirit, but he would never lose that amazement when it came to a night sky.

"It's so pretty," Emi breathed.

He looked down at the child by his side and saw that same curiosity and passion in his daughter's eyes. Even though she had lived most of her life among the stars, she still stared at them with wonder. She twirled and held out her arms, as if she could gather the stars to her.

Shiro sat down on the hillside and pulled off his jacket, waiting for her to come back to him. After a few minutes of running around, she raced over and sat down in his lap. He wrapped his jacket around her before looking up, watching the stars as they danced across the sky.

"I love them," Emi said, snuggling into his jacket, "Don't you?"

"Yeah," he said, kissing the top of her head as she settled back against his chest. "But not as much as I love you."

"I love you more than stars, too, Daddy."

"Thanks, Emi." Shiro smiled before pointing up to the sky, starting their favorite game. "All right, find me a constellation." This whole week they had been studying the constellations of Wyfel in preparation for tonight. Learning the local constellations was part of their tradition, and whenever they came to a planet that hadn't bothered to come up with patterns, they made up their own.

After a few minutes, Emi tilted her head to the side and lifted a finger, tracing stars like she was playing connect-the-dots. "The Evertree," she said, "Those five right there."

"Named after…?"

"The trees in the middle of Ethusi towns," she said, "Right?"

"Perfect."

"Your turn."

It was a pretty fantastic way to spend an evening. He hoped that one day, when Emi was older and off on adventures of her own, his daughter would look up at the night sky and remember that she had his love no matter how far away they were from each other. But for now, while she was little, he would hold her tight and watch together as the stars spun through the darkness.


	11. Super Space Tooth Fairy Ninja

Disclaimer: I don't own VLD!

A/N: Well, the tooth fairy had to visit somehow…have some paladins being absolute dorks.

* * *

 **Super Space Tooth Fairy Ninja**

"How long do we have to wait until she's really asleep?"

"Maybe thirty minutes after Allura finishes reading her stories? At least she sleeps pretty hard once she actually nods off."

"I know I said this earlier, but can't we just use the mice for this? Allura could ask them, and Emi's used to—"

"No!" Pidge and Lance were in unison as they cut Shiro off, rejecting his idea yet again.

"All right, all right…"

With most of the inhabitants of the Castle of Lions hanging out in the main rec room, Pidge, Lance, and Hunk were huddled around the homemade coffee table. They were busy solidifying their plans for Project Space Tooth Fairy Ninja. All of the paladins were exhausted after a day of trekking through the rainforest, but being tired wasn't any excuse when it came for the night's essential escapade.

"We've been planning this all day," Lance said, tossing a frown at Shiro.

"No, you, Pidge, and Hunk have been planning it all day," Keith put in. He and Coran were sitting at a table to the side, both of them half-focused on the game between them and half-listening to the conversation.

"I'm on the outskirts of this plan, just making that clear," Hunk said.

"You guys were looking for special mystical thingy, and this needed to be figured out," Lance said, "We all had jobs."

"I think we were all supposed to be looking for the artifact," Shiro said, "Since the Tooth Fairy shouldn't be as difficult as you're making it."

"It's more intricate than you think, and I was the one who found the thing anyways."

"Yeah, 'cause you sat on it," Keith teased, not looking up to see the massive eye roll that Lance gave. "Emi is Shiro and Allura's kid, they should decide how they do the Tooth Fairy stuff."

"No, they'll do something boring," Pidge said before grinning at Shiro. "No offense." Shiro half-smiled, more amused than irritated.

Lance seemed to consider Keith's comment for one second and then shook his head. "You can't make the mice do it, that's cheating."

"Yeah, this is an Earth tradition that's been carried down through the ages by put-upon parents everywhere," Pidge said. She pointed at Shiro. "You can't get out of it that easily."

Hunk rubbed the back of his neck and gave a hesitant smile. "Personally, I think it'd be okay to use the mice." Pidge and Lance both turned on him, their eyes narrowed, and he held up his hands. "Or not."

Shiro sighed and leaned his head against the back of the couch. "I'm not trying to get out of it." Though he wouldn't mind if someone else volunteered. "I'm just saying that it would be better—"

"Nope, no way," Lance said, slashing a hand through the air as if slicing through Shiro's sentence.

"Is this fairy of the teeth anything like that jolly red-dressed fellow that we pretend exists during your December month?" Coran asked. He and Allura had been given the general gist of the tooth fairy idea, and they thought it was weird but intriguing.

"Yep, just like Space Santa," Hunk said.

"You humans seem to lie to your children often," Coran said, twisting his mustache. "Then again, back on Altea, we once had a day long festival where all the little ones looked for a snipperin bird." He laughed and shook his head. "There never was a snipperin bird, but it was certainly nice to rest while they hunted for it. Allura's father orchestrated it, he thought it was great fun."

"Oh, don't remind me about that bird," Allura said as she stepped into the rec room. "I spent that whole day looking for that silly creature." Allura was already in her pajamas, which consisted of silky PJ pants and one of Shiro's old shirts plus a pair of slippers. Heading over to the couch, she sat down next to Shiro, who automatically pulled her closer.

"How many stories did you have to read?" he asked, rubbing his thumb up and down her arm.

Allura laughed and leaned back against him, fitting perfectly against his side. "Three, and then we had to make up a story together. I think she's still awake, but she was quote sleepy when I left."

"So we can execute Project Space Tooth Fairy Ninja?" Lance asked, perking up.

"What all does this project entail, exactly?" Allura said, looking at the messy coffee table. It was covered in plans, drawings, and craft supplies.

"You or Shiro are going to go change into all black and then put these on," Pidge said, gesturing to the wings that Hunk was working on, "Then you'll sneak into Emi's room and put this under her pillow." She held up a bag that clinked. "And then you'll leave little fairy footprints all over her room."

"And how are we going to do that?" Allura asked as she looked up at Shiro. Long-suffering. That would be a good way to describe him right now.

"I'm printing a stamp," Pidge said, "It'll be ready in a few minutes."

"This sounds…complicated," Allura said.

Shiro laughed. "Oh, that is an understatement."

"I'm going to put this put there. How about we don't lie to her?" Keith said. He sat back as Coran knocked over one of his pieces and pulled it back to his side, claiming it with a victory pose. "Just an idea."

"Don't be a buzzkill, it's just for fun, and she'll like it," Lance said, "None of us were scarred when we found out that Santa, the Tooth Fairy, and the Easter Bunny weren't real."

"It's still lying."

"Dude, you just told her yesterday that if she didn't do her schoolwork, you'd let Red eat her."

"That's not a lie, I would definitely let Red do that."

"Keith!" Hunk said, staring.

Keith threw his hands into the air. "It's not like Red would actually hurt her!"

"Anyways," Shiro broke in before the argument could escalate or Keith said something else ridiculous. He rubbed his forehead. "What's with the wings? I'm still trying to figure that out. The whole point is for her to not wake up, so why would we have to wear a pair of wings? She shouldn't see them."

"Just in case," Lance said.

"And they look cool, if I do say so myself," Hunk said, lifting the wings. They were small and curved, like the wings of a bee from Earth. Hunk had embellished them with shimmery bits and some of the glitter that they kept locked in a supply closet so Lance and Pidge couldn't get to it. They only used glitter for evil.

Allura looked at her exhausted husband and imagined wrestling him into those cute dainty wings. She cracked a smile, one that didn't go unnoticed.

"I know that smile," Shiro said, "Stop thinking about me wearing those wings. I don't think they'll fit, so you get to wear them."

"No, no, this is an Earth custom, and as such, I believe you should have the honor of fulfilling it," she said, scooting to the side but he slid with her.

"Oh no, I think this is a good time for us to bond over shared traditions as a family," he said, grinning. Shiro held his hand out to Hunk. "Let me see them, I'll help Allura put them on."

Allura gave Hunk a wide, beaming smile. "Hunk, if you'll hand them to me, I'll assist Shiro with his wings."

Hunk looked back and forth from Shiro to Allura, panic on his face. "This is a trap."

"Abort, abort," Pidge said, tugging on Hunk's arm.

"Someone has to be the Space Tooth Fairy Ninja," Lance said, making a face, "And it has to be one of your guys. You're the parents, so it's your responsibility."

Allura and Shiro glanced at each other before turning on Lance with matching dangerous grins.

"Is that so, Lance…"

"Come here, buddy…"

And that was how Lance officially became the Space Tooth Fairy Ninja.

Emi was ecstatic at breakfast the next morning, proudly showing everyone the couple coins she had gotten in exchange for her tooth.

"I hope they all come out this week," she announced, "I can't wait!"

"Next time, can we use the mice?" Lance asked Shiro in a whisper, picking off a stubborn fleck of glitter that was still stuck to his hand.

Shiro smirked. "But Lance, that's cheating."

"Man…"


	12. Splash Zone Pt 1

**Splash Zone**

Pt. 1

"I volunteer to babysit."

"No one needs to babysit because Emi's going, and besides, you like parties, Lance," Allura said, not looking up from where she was doing Emi's hair. Her fingers were busy putting her daughter's hair into a simple braid while the four-year-old played with one of her stuffed lions. Allura had to be quick since getting Emi to sit still long enough for any kind of hair styling was a nearly impossible feat.

"Not this time," the blue paladin grumbled. He was laying on the rug in the middle of Shiro and Allura's sitting room, wrinkling his new outfit.

All of them were wearing clothes that had been given to them by the Grand Ister, the leader of the northern hemisphere of Teani. It was a small planet, but it wanted entrance into the ever-growing coalition that was still freeing obscure and random planets from the remnants of Galra rule. Tomorrow they would start true diplomatic talks, but tonight was supposed to be a more relaxed event.

However, the northern Te were not known for being the most fun-loving and traditionally charismatic of people.

"It's going to be beyond boring. Epic levels of boring. It's cruel to force Emi to go."

"The Grand Ister's children are going to be there, too," Allura said. In front of her, Emi pranced her green lion toy across the table and made it tackle a hairbrush.

"And I bet they're just as boring as their parents."

The Te of the northern hemisphere had a severely stern culture. Most of them took everything seriously and literally, so jokes, sarcasm and most witty comebacks were utterly lost on them. Allura wasn't particularly looking forward to the dinner party either, but she had to stay positive in order to avoid potential full-scale rebellion from the paladins. Also, respecting and trying to understand other cultures was important...

"Just because we disagree on what's humorous doesn't mean they're completely dull," Allura replied.

"They don't even have music here," Lance said, "Who doesn't have music?"

Well… "How about you set up a cultural exchange, if you're that concerned about it."

"What are they bringing to this exchange? The super engaging sport of watching paint dry?"

"We can paint?" Emi asked, perking up.

"Let's do that tomorrow," Allura said.

She finished Emi's braid and started swiftly tucking shimmering white and pink flowers into her hair. The flowers had also been a gift from the Te. What they lacked in charisma, the Te made up for it in generosity. Allura managed to stick a dozen blooms in Emi's white-streaked black hair before the four-year-old reached her limit for staying in one place.

Emi sprang down from her chair and raced over to Lance, trailing the long sleeves of the Te dress. The outfit had a very Medieval meets cyberpunk feel to it.

She flung herself into Lance's lap and put her hands on his shoulders, an impish glint in her blue eyes. "Wanna paint?"

"Nice try," Lance said, poking her forehead gently.

It had become clear over the past few weeks that Emi had figured out that asking everyone the same question meant that sometimes someone would say yes after everyone else said no. For instance, Shiro would tell Emi, no, she couldn't have a third Reese's cup, but when she ran across the castle and asked Pidge, she got the answer she wanted. It had forced the adults to adopt a system where whenever someone told Emi no, they had to make an all-call over the comm system so everyone was on the same page when it came to the youngest crew member.

"Emi, don't ask Lance when I just told you no," Allura said, glancing at her daughter.

"Yes, Mumma." Emi nodded, somewhat paying attention. She plucked at an elegant button on collar of Lance's vest and scrunched her nose up when it didn't come off. Maybe the Te weren't terribly fun-loving in general, but their clothes were works of art. That was one of their places where creativity flourished.

Allura put finishing touches on her own look before turning around, clasping her hands together. "Now let's put on a brave face and go to this party."

"You heard your mom, Squeaker," Lance said, lifting Emi up to her feet.

"I was talking to you," Allura said, smirking at the reluctant blue paladin.

"Right…"

With Emi's hand in hers, Allura headed to the Black Lion's hangar. Shiro had gotten ready for the party faster than the two of them and decided to spend his extra time in the hangar, working on answering messages while spending a little time with his lion.

He looked up from his tablet as Allura and Emi walked in. "Look, Black, my two favorite ladies are exceptionally beautiful tonight."

"And our favorite handsome knight is hard at work, yet again," Allura said, smiling at him.

He climbed down from the Black Lion's massive paw and headed over to them, sliding an arm around Allura's waist. Leaning in, he kissed her, lingering to press his forehead against hers. "Seriously, Allura, you're breathtaking."

"Thank you," she said, stealing another kiss. "You're rather stunning yourself."

Emi started to skip off in Black's direction, but Shiro scooped her up and propped her on his hip. "Where do you think you're going?"

She reached past him, stretching her arm out toward Black. "Wanna fly."

"We're about to," he said, grinning at her.

"Can we go now?" Emi said, her eyes plaintive and hopeful. "No later. Now?"

Shiro laughed and kissed her cheek. "Yes, now." He held out his free arm to Allura. "If I may escort you, your majesty?"

"You may, my paladin." A playful smile tugged at Allura's lips as she slipped her arm through his.

They headed into Black's cockpit, where Shiro sat down in the pilot's seat and Allura stood beside him. While Black came online, Emi twirled, holding her hands above her head, all energy and activity. She grabbed Allura's hand and spun like a tiny ballerina, and Allura joined in, swaying with her until the Lion took off. Emi pulled away and dove under the front console, where she could press her nose to the screen that reflected the stars outside.

"All right, team, let's go," Shiro said over the comms as Black did a slow loop around the castle ship.

"You took off without us?" Hunk asked as his face appeared on the screen.

"Well, someone with big blue eyes wanted to go flying," Shiro said. Below the console, Emi giggled.

"Shiro, you've got learn how to say no to Allura," Lance said over the comms, "Don't always succumb to the Altean pouty face."

"I do believe you're the one with the pouting face, Lance," Allura said, "You showed an excellent example of it just a little while ago."

"Hey, no one wants to go to this. We're all pouting on the inside."

"I sort of want to go," Pidge put in. Outside, the Green Lion launched from its tower and fell in beside the Black Lion. "They have cool robots. I want one."

"No stealing, Pidge," Shiro said. All he got back from Pidge was wicked grin.

"Let's let Pidge go, and she can report back to everyone else," Hunk said as the Yellow Lion burst out of the castle. Instead of joining Black and Green, he held Yellow in a hover above the castle's central tower.

"I second Hunk's motion," Lance said.

"We're all going," Allura said, her voice steeled with exasperated finality, "So let's stop debating the point. And, if I must remind you, Coran and Keith are waiting for us."

The two of them had spent the day down on Teani. The Te had a very advanced, unique swordsmithing technique, which Keith was automatically enamored with. No one else had really wanted to spend the afternoon in a smithy, but Coran had been curious enough to volunteer, as long as Keith agreed to going to museums in the morning.

"Cran and Uncle Keef?" Emi said, appearing from under the console. She sprang to her feet and nearly tripped over one of the long sleeves of her dress. Shiro caught her arm and steadied her, lifting her so she could sit in his lap.

"We're heading that way as soon as Lance gets moving," Shiro said, glancing at the screen showing the blue paladin.

"Keith probably bought Emi a knife or something," Lance said as Blue came online and sprang out of the castle, "So she can be all stabby-stab, too."

"Well, she is a little badass," Pidge said.

"Language," Hunk scolded as the four lions dove for the planet's surface.

Allura sighed, wondering exactly how many curse words in various languages Emi was going to pick up as she grew. Knowing the human penchant for memorizing swear words, she was certain Emi would have a colorful vocabulary.


	13. Splash Zone Pt 2

Disclaimer: I don't own VLD!

A/N: Fountains are way better than dinner parties anyways…

* * *

 **Part 2**

The Te ate silently.

Eating utensils tinked and clicked as they struck each other and the plates, but no one spoke.

It was considered rude to talk during meals since chefs were held in very high regard in the northern Te society. Any talking meant that you were not fully enjoying the food and thought poorly of the chef and therefore the host. The Te understood that their guests had very different customs and had offered to allow conversation for the dinner, but Coran jumped in and said that they would be just fine following Te etiquette. In any case, their hosts were understanding and accepted that there would be a few slip-ups throughout the evening.

With no music, the silence stretched endlessly, grating on the humans and Alteans who found it more than a little awkward. Lance looked like he was about to pop with conversation, anything to fill the silent void. Beside him, Coran was keeping him in line by shooting him 'the Look,' something Coran had developed to keep order during diplomatic events.

No one really wanted to get the Look from Coran.

Keith and Pidge kept exchanging glances, both of them biting back a flurry of questions about their respective interests. Every time one of the robotic waiters delivered a new plate to the table, Pidge's eyes bulged and her face would squish with the effort to hold back a slew of techno-based enthusiasm.

Hunk would open his mouth to speak to the Te around him and then quickly turn his attention back to his plate before he accidentally said something.

Across the table from each other, Shiro and Allura spoke with their eyes, holding a conversation without saying a word. Out of the two of them, Shiro was handling the silence better than Allura, mainly because she kept almost laughing at Shiro's expressions.

Every time the Te brought out one of their intricate dishes, he would eye it warily, wondering how it was supposed to be eaten. Or he would stare since the food looked more like art than something edible. He went wide-eyed when he reached out to touch a shimmering globe and it exploded against his finger. After that, he stopped experimenting and watched what the Te did before attempting to eat.

While they were enjoying the dinner the best they could, both Shiro and Allura kept thinking about their daughter. Young children were exempt from having to be completely quiet, but they were also sequestered off on their own at an extreme version of a kids table. Emi had been whisked away with the other children before the adults went into the dining hall. She hadn't seemed too upset about being separated, though she had given her family an uncertain look before following the others. Allura and Shiro had questioned it more than she had, but they had reluctantly agreed when the Grand Ister explained she wouldn't be expected to stay so quiet during the meal.

After the last dish was taken away, the head chef walked into the room. The Te rose from their chairs as one and bowed to the chef, the Voltron crew copying them. The head chef bowed back and then the dinner party moved from the dining hall to the massive indoor garden adjacent to the room.

Finally everyone was allowed to talk, and the paladins quickly filled the room with conversation. Hunk wanted to speak to someone, anyone, from the kitchens while Pidge hunted down one of the serving robots. The Te weren't as talkative as the paladins and seemed slightly overwhelmed by the various and multiple topics that were brought up at one time.

Lance eventually wandered away from the group, drawn to the huge fountain at the center of the garden. It was tall and complicated though still visually appealing, and water flowed from various points on the statue. Glancing around, he stepped up onto the edge of the fountain and started walking around it, toying with the idea of taking a boot off and sticking his foot in the water.

He jumped down at the sound of people coming toward the fountain and a moment later, something small and soft collided with his leg. Emi hugged him as the other children and a pair of caretakers stepped into the fountain square.

"She ran ahead of us," the caretaker said, clearly embarrassed that Emi had escaped.

"It's all right," Lance said, grinning, "I'll keep an eye on her."

Once they were gone, Lance pried Emi off his leg and sat down on the edge of the fountain. "Did you have fun?"

She shook her head and stuck out her tongue. "They kept telling me be more quieter."

"Yeah, me too," he said, thinking of Coran and his Look.

"And they don't have dessert," she said, like it was the most tragic thing in the universe. "No ice cream." Climbing up into the fountain's edge, she leaned on Lance's shoulder and peered into the water. "Pretty."

"We should go swimming and have ice cream when we get home," Lance said, "We've definitely earned it."

"Yes!" Emi bounced before she stepped away from him, still looking at the water. "I like swimming."

Lance recognized that tone. Determination with a sharp edge of feistiness. Oh, no, not good. "Not now, though, right? Let's go swimming later, at the castle."

"No, now," Emi said, lifting her chin as if she was making a royal decree.

"Emi, no—" Lance swiped at her, but she jumped, landing up to her waist in the water.

A peal of laughter broke out of her as she splashed at him, dousing his face and outfit.

"Emi Shirogane, get over here right now," Lance said sternly as water dripped off his nose, "You're in serious time-out territory." She was out of reach now, no matter how far he stretched. If he wanted to get her, he would have to go in after her.

She stopped and looked at him, and he could practically see a war going on in her mind. Obey him and get out of the water or ignore him and enjoy herself? He saw stubbornness and defiance bloom on her tiny face before she darted over to stand under one of the fountainheads, immediately getting drenched.

"All right, Squeaker, I hate to do this, but you're getting a time-out and losing dessert privileges." Lance held out a hand, hoping she would feel properly chastised and regret her decision.

It didn't work. Emi sat down under the fountain spray and then flopped backward to float.

"Emi, sit up," Lance said, already pulling his boots up, "Now, please." That dress she was wearing was too weighty for floating, and he was worried she would go under. She was a good swimmer, but he wasn't taking any chances.

At least this time she listened to him. Sitting up, she splashed at the water and grinned. "You swimming too, Lance?"

"No, if I go in, I'm getting you and getting out. So please get out of there," he said, crossing his arms over his chest and trying out a disappointed look.

She ignored him and kicked her legs, sending water everywhere.

Sighing, Lance crashed into the fountain and headed for the four-year-old, but when she saw him coming, she got up and ran around the fountain. She tripped and he lunged for her, trying to nab her, but his foot slid out from under him. He wound up on his rear, sitting in the water. Emi climbed to her feet, dripping and giggling just out of reach again.

"I'm pretty sure that's not meant for swimming."

Pidge stood at the edge of the fountain with a huge grin on her face and her cell in her hand. "Smile."

Emi beamed while Lance looked exasperated. "You could give me a hand here."

"I thought you were having fun," Pidge said, pocketing her cell, "Emi sure is."

"No kidding," Lance said, standing up. "She won't get out of the water, so I had to go in after her."

"Oh, you just _had to_ ," Pidge teased, "Like you didn't want to."

Lance put his hands on his hips. "Are you going to help me or not?"

She looked over at Emi and lifted her eyebrows. "Wanna get out of the water, Mouse?"

"Nope!"

Pidge shrugged. "I tried."

Lance stared at her then launched himself out of the water, startling the smaller paladin. She started to back up, but it was too late. Lance wrapped his arms around her and started dragging her toward the fountain. "You're going to help me with the kid, Pidge."

"No, no way, you're going to get us in trouble! Allura and Shiro are going to murder us." She shoved at his arms and tried to squirm away, letting out a wordless shout.

Lance plucked her cell from her pocket and tossed it into a nearby bush to keep it safe before he chunked her into the fountain. Pidge hit the water with a shriek, and on the other side of the fountain, Emi couldn't stop laughing.

Pidge erupted from the water and latched onto Lance's legs, dragging him down. Spiteful, she wrestled him while Emi sat on the edge of the fountain and kicked her legs back and forth.

She was about to jump back in when hands caught her and pulled her off the fountain.

"What's going on?" Hunk asked, setting Emi on the ground, "Lance? Pidge! Come on, guys, the Te aren't going to like this…"

"I'm going to kill him!"

"She's trying to drown me! I didn't do anything, by the way."

"Why are you so wet?" Keith knelt down by Emi, his eyes narrowed at her.

She didn't look the least bit embarrassed. "Swimming."

Hunk stepped up to the side of the fountain. "Get out of there right now. That's not how you use a fountain."

Lance and Pidge paused their battle to glance at each other.

Poor Hunk didn't even see it coming.

By the time Allura, Shiro, and Coran followed the screams and shouts to the middle of the garden, there were three paladins in the water, one soaked paladin yelling from the side, and one small four-year-old trying wriggle out of Keith's arms to get back in the fountain.

Allura put her face in her hands while Shiro tried so very hard not to laugh.

Coran, however, was far more willing to start giving an impromptu lecture on decorum and public relations even though no one was listening.

The Grand Ister of northern Te decided that from then on, it was best if dinner parties were held on the castle ship instead of Teani.


	14. Conservation Status

Disclaimer: I don't own VLD!

A/N: I don't know where this idea came from, except I think it would feel a little lonely sometimes to be an Altean. Emi is eight years old here.

* * *

 **Conservation Status**

"Coran?"

"Yes, my little juniberry blossom?"

"We're an endangered species, aren't we?"

The royal advisor/mechanic/ex-fashion pirate turned around so fast he almost created a breeze. Coran had been working on some old wiring in the wall of the holodeck, but fixing it left his mind entirely as he focused on the little girl sitting nearby.

Emi was perched on the edge of the main photoemitter, holding on tight to one of her lion plushies, the blue one this time. She had been quiet the whole time she had been keeping him company, but he hadn't thought she was waiting to spring something like that on him.

"That's…did someone tell you that?" he asked as he walked over to her. He had seen some of the articles that humans and other people wrote about Alteans, and the fact that there were only three of them left was often a point that was brought up. Sometimes Earth scientists and researchers wrote articles that were frankly insulting in their suggestions of ways to increase the Altean population.

Allura, Shiro, and Coran were always very honest with Emi about how few Alteans there really were, but it seemed to have finally sunk in.

Emi shrugged, not lifting her eyes from her toy. She played with the blue stuffed lion's tail, squeezing it between her fingers. A long time ago, that plushie had been left too close to a campfire and had gotten its tail singed so it was missing the puff on the end that the other ones still had. To make it "feel" better, Emi usually kept a bandage wrapped around the end of its tail.

Coran narrowed his eyes at her searchingly and then sat down beside her, staying quiet in hopes that she would start talking on her own.

It took her a long moment, but finally she stood up, taking a step away from him. "We were talking about endangered species in class today," she said, "Like tigers on Earth and zesillan on Deui."

"Did that upset you?" Coran asked.

"No…" she said, her ponytail swinging back and forth as she shook her head. "But after school me and Tryll and Evad were chatting, and Tryll said that Alteans would actually get the extinct in the wild status. I don't think he meant it as something bad but—" Emi turned back toward him, her eyes flicking up from her lion to finally meet Coran's gaze. Tears were starting to gather, and she sniffled, rubbing a knuckle under her right eye. "But we're just endangered, right? We're not extinct. There's me and you and mum, and we're sort of in the wild."

Coran's chest tightened as he rushed forward and gathered her into his arms. "We are _not_ extinct." Not while there were three of them left. Coran's thoughts wandered to all the faces that were gone, the people he had known so long ago, the lives that had been lived decapheebs ago. "And besides, those terms are meant for plants and animals, not for us. So we're not even endangered."

Emi lifted her head from his shoulder, tears still streaming down her cheeks. "But there's still only three of us."

"Right," he said, reaching up to brush away some of those tears, "Which, you know, if we're having this discussion, we should call the third one." He needed some back-up in this matter. Setting her down on the photoemitter, Coran quickly contacted Allura and asked her to come to the holodeck. Also, if she could find Shiro on the way, that would be for the best.

While they waited for Allura, Emi hugged her blue lion plushie, and Coran hugged her, wishing this was easier on her. Yes, Emi was half-human and there were billions of humans, but she also had to deal with the fact that she was the only Human-Altean person in the universe. He wondered if she had really processed that just yet. There was unique and then there was 'one of a kind.' Hopefully that was a tough talk for another day.

When the holodeck door slid open and Allura stepped in with Shiro right behind her, Emi jumped up and raced over to her mom, colliding with her legs. Allura ran her hand over Emi's hair and looked at Coran, worried. "What's going on?"

"We're an endangered species but Tryll says we're extinct in the wild, but we're in the wild so we're not really extinct," Emi said in a rush, looking up at Allura. "Right?"

"I still stand by the fact that we're not animals or plants so we're not technically endangered at all," Coran said, spreading his hands.

"And why are we having this conversation?" Shiro asked. He looked highly concerned as he knelt by Emi and she dropped against him, curling into the safety of his arms. Standing up, he pressed close to Allura, as if the very idea of Alteans being extinct disturbed him on a deep level. Which, actually, it did.

Coran explained what he knew about Emi's class and the discussion afterward. Shiro's hold tightened around his daughter as she hid her face against his shoulder. Allura reached over to trace comforting circles on her back.

"I think I'll call Tryll's parents tonight," Allura said, her tone edged with razor sharp steel. "We need to have a discussion."

Emi jerked her head up. "I don't want him to get in trouble!"

"I know, sweetheart, but you want him to know he hurt your feelings, too," Allura said, "Also, he shouldn't call anyone else's species extinct."

"He said only in the wild," Emi mumbled.

Shiro nudged at her, making her peel back from his shoulder for a moment. "Space is about as wild as it gets, Nezumi-chan."

"That's what I said." The corner of her mouth twitched like she was considering a smile before she drooped against Shiro's shoulder again.

Allura reached out, and Shiro shifted, handing Emi over immediately. Allura hugged Emi before setting her down on the floor and cupping her small cheek, her thumb running over her daughter's bright pink birthmark. "There's not many of us, but we're certainly not extinct and we're not going to call ourselves endangered. We are the last Alteans, but we're _here_. That's what matters."

Emi slowly nodded, leaning into her mother's touch while Coran smiled fondly at the two of them. He doubted that made everything better or that the thought would really leave Emi's mind, but maybe that would start to quell her fear.

Yes, there were only three of them, but they were the survivors of an ancient civilization that had stood for peace, scholarship, and galactic diplomacy. Their home planet hadn't been perfect, of course it hadn't, but they could still be proud of who they were and where they came from.

There were still three Alteans in the wild.


End file.
